System and Method for Displaying Geographic Imagery

ABSTRACT

In one aspect, a computer-implemented method is disclosed for providing geographic imagery. The method may include receiving, at a computing device, a request for a geographic image, wherein the geographic image depicts at least a portion of a selected location within a geographic area. In addition, the method may include presenting, with the computing device, the geographic image and superimposing a map including normalized travel way data associated with the geographic area over at least a portion of the geographic image.

FIELD

The present subject matter relates generally to systems and methods fordisplaying geographic imagery, and more particularly to systems andmethods for displaying panoramic imagery, such as interactive immersivepanoramic imagery.

BACKGROUND

Computerized systems and methods for providing and/or displayingimagery, in particular panoramic imagery, are known. In the context ofgeographic information systems and digital mapping systems, servicessuch as Google Maps are capable of providing street level images ofgeographical locations. The images, known on Google Maps as “StreetView,” typically provide immersive 360° panoramic views centered arounda geographic area of interest, with the panoramic views beinginterconnected within a three-dimensional space. The panoramic viewsallow a user to view a geographic location from a person's perspective,as if the user was located on the street level or ground levelassociated with the geographic location.

User interfaces for navigating imagery typically allow a user tonavigate between interconnected panoramic images by selecting anavigation button (e.g., an arrow) that moves the current street-levelview to the adjacent panoramic image. However, such navigation ofinterconnected panoramic images can be rather cumbersome since the useris not able to quickly move between non-adjacent panoramic images and isoften unable to view points-of-interest located within the surroundinggeographic area.

SUMMARY

Aspects and advantages of the invention will be set forth in part in thefollowing description, or may be obvious from the description, or may belearned through practice of the invention.

In one aspect, the present subject matter is directed to acomputer-implemented method for providing geographic imagery. In oneembodiment, the method may include receiving, at a computing device, arequest for a geographic image, wherein the geographic image depicts atleast a portion of a selected location within a geographic area. Inaddition, the method may include presenting, with the computing device,the geographic image and superimposing a map including normalized travelway data associated with the geographic area over at least a portion ofthe geographic image.

In another aspect, the present subject matter is directed to acomputer-implemented method for providing geographic imagery. In oneembodiment, the method may include receiving, at a computing device, arequest for a geographic image, wherein the geographic image depicts afirst portion of a panoramic image of a selected location within ageographic area. A first viewing angle being associated with the firstportion of the panoramic image. In addition, the method may includepresenting, with the computing device, the geographic image,superimposing a map including travel way data associated with thegeographic area over at least a portion of the geographic image andorienting the travel way data on the map based on the first viewingangle.

In a further aspect, the present subject matter is directed to acomputer-implemented method for providing geographic imagery. In oneembodiment, the method may include receiving, at a computing device, arequest for a geographic image, wherein the geographic image depicts aselected location within a geographic area including at least oneentity. In addition, the method may include presenting, with thecomputing device, the geographic image, superimposing a map includingindicia associated with the at least one entity over at least a portionof the geographic image, receiving data indicative of a user interactionwith the indicia and in response to the user interaction, presenting,with the computing device, a second geographic image depicting at leasta portion of the at least one entity.

These and other features, aspects and advantages of the presentinvention will become better understood with reference to the followingdescription and appended claims. The accompanying drawings, which areincorporated in and constitute a part of this specification, illustrateembodiments of the invention and, together with the description, serveto explain the principles of the invention.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

A full and enabling disclosure of the present invention, including thebest mode thereof, directed to one of ordinary skill in the art, is setforth in the specification, which makes reference to the appendedfigures, in which:

FIG. 1 illustrates a schematic diagram of one embodiment of a system forproviding and displaying panoramic imagery in accordance with aspects ofthe present subject matter;

FIG. 2 illustrates a conceptual representation of an exemplary 360°panoramic image presented as a three-dimensional cylindrical surfacecentered about a geographic point of interest;

FIG. 3 illustrates one embodiment of a user interface for displayingpanoramic imagery in accordance with aspects of the present subjectmatter, particularly illustrating the user interface with a mapsuperimposed over a portion of the panoramic image;

FIG. 4 illustrates one embodiment of how data included within the mapshown in FIG. 3 may be oriented or skewed based on a viewing angle ofthe panoramic image, particularly illustrating the map data on the leftside and a top-down view of the conceptual representation of thepanoramic image shown in FIG. 2 on the right side; and

FIGS. 5-9 illustrate specific examples how the map data superimposedover the panoramic image may be oriented based on the viewing angle ofthe panoramic image in accordance with aspects of the present subjectmatter.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Reference now will be made in detail to embodiments of the invention,one or more examples of which are illustrated in the drawings. Eachexample is provided by way of explanation of the invention, notlimitation of the invention. In fact, it will be apparent to thoseskilled in the art that various modifications and variations can be madein the present invention without departing from the scope or spirit ofthe invention. For instance, features illustrated or described as partof one embodiment can be used with another embodiment to yield a stillfurther embodiment. Thus, it is intended that the present inventioncovers such modifications and variations as come within the scope of theappended claims and their equivalents.

In general, the present subject matter is directed to a system andmethod for displaying geographic imagery, such as immersive panoramicimagery. Specifically, in several embodiments, a street level imageforming part of a panoramic image may be presented on a user interfacewith a map superimposed over a portion of the street level image. Themap may generally include data associated with the streets and/orentities located within the area surrounding the geographic location ofthe panoramic image such that a simplified and normalized street/entitynetwork may be presented to a user. For example, each street within thelocal vicinity of the geographic location of the panoramic image may bedisplayed on the map as a straight line segment.

Additionally, in several embodiments, the data displayed on the map maybe angled or skewed to match the orientation of the current view of thestreet level image presented to the user. For example, the street onwhich the panoramic image is located (i.e., the “active street”) may beoriented horizontally on the map when the current view of the streetlevel image is directed perpendicular to the active street. However, asthe current view is rotated clockwise or counterclockwise fromperpendicular, the orientation of the active street may be skewed in theopposite direction.

Moreover, the map may also be used as a means for navigating between theplurality of interconnected panoramic images spaced apart around thegeographic area. For example, in one embodiment, a user may be able tonavigate between panoramic images by simply clicking or touching the mapat the location at which a panoramic image is desired to be viewed. Inanother embodiment, a user may navigate between panoramic images byperforming a click and drag operation along a portion of the map.

Referring now to the drawings, FIG. 1 illustrates one embodiment of anexemplary system 100 for displaying geographic imagery in accordancewith aspects of the present subject matter. As will be described below,the system 100 may provide for the display of interactive panoramicimagery, such as street level imagery, of a geographic area to users.The system 100 may include a client-server architecture where a server110 communicates with one or more clients 130 over a network 140.Although only two clients are shown in FIG. 1, it should be appreciatedthat any number of clients 130 may be connected to the server 110 overthe network 140.

The server 110 may host a geographic information system, such as amapping application (e.g. the Google Maps™ mapping services provided byGoogle Inc.), a virtual globe application (e.g. the Google Earth™virtual globe application provided by Google Inc.), or any othersuitable geographic information system. On the client-side, each client130 can present a user interface, such as a browser, that allows a userto interact with the geographic information system. The server 110transmits data, such as panoramic images and other data, over thenetwork 140 to the client 130. Upon receipt of this data, the client 130can present panoramic imagery and other associated data, via the userinterface, in a display device associated with the client 130. A usercan then interact with the panoramic imagery/data presented in the userinterface to navigate the panoramic imagery as will be discussed ingreater detail below.

The server 110 can be any computing device, such as a web server, andcan include a processor 112 and a memory 114. The memory 114 can storeinstructions 116 which cause the processor to perform operations. Forinstance, the memory 114 can store instructions 116 to implement one ormore modules for providing panoramic imagery to client devices 130 overthe network 140.

It will be appreciated that the term “module” refers to computer logicutilized to provide desired functionality. Thus, a module can beimplemented in hardware, firmware and/or software controlling a generalpurpose processor. In one embodiment, the modules are program code filesstored on the storage device, loaded into memory and executed by aprocessor or can be provided from computer program products, for examplecomputer executable instructions, that are stored in a tangiblecomputer-readable storage medium such as RAM hard disk or optical ormagnetic media.

Memory 114 can also include data 118 used to implement a geographicinformation system. For instance, memory 114 can include or be coupledto a map database 120, a street level image database 122, and an entitydatabase 124. The databases can be connected to the server 110 by a highbandwidth LAN or WAN, or could also be connected to server 110 throughnetwork 140. The databases, including map database 120, the street levelimage database 122 and the entity database 124 can be split up so thatthey are located in multiple locales.

Map database 120 of server 110 stores map-related information, at leasta portion of which can be transmitted to a client device 130 overnetwork 140. For example, map database 120 can store map tiles, whereeach tile is a map image of a particular geographic area. Depending onthe resolution (e.g., whether the map is zoomed in or out), one tile cancover a large region (e.g. a State) in relatively little detail. Anothertile can cover a much smaller region (e.g. a neighborhood) in relativelyhigh detail. The map information is not limited to any particularformat. For example, the images can include street maps, satelliteimages, aerial images, other suitable images, or a combination of these.The images can be stored as vectors (e.g. in the case of street maps) orbitmaps (e.g. in the case of satellite images and/or aerial images). Thevarious map tiles can be associated with geographic locations such thatthe server 110 is capable of selecting, retrieving and transmitting oneor more tiles in response to a request receiving by a client 130specifying a selected geographic location.

The street level image database 122 stores street level imagesassociated with the geographic locations. Street level images compriseimages of objects at geographic locations captured by cameras positionedat the geographic location from a perspective at or near the groundlevel or street level. For example, street level images often compriseimages of objects taken from a perspective of a person standing in thestreet passing through the geographic location. An exemplary streetlevel image 202 is shown in FIG. 3. However, although the term “streetlevel” images is used, the images can depict non-street areas,including, but not limited to, exterior non-street areas, such as trailsand walkways, and interior non-street areas, such as building interiors.For example, a street level image of the interior of a building may betaken from a perspective a person standing within a room of a building(e.g., standing in the center of the room). A street level image candepict objects such as buildings, trees, monuments, etc. from aperspective of a few feet above the ground. The street level images canbe used to provide an immersive 360° panoramic viewing experience to auser centered on a geographic area of interest.

The street level images may be captured using any suitable techniqueand/or any suitable image capture device. For instance, the street levelimages may be captured by a camera mounted on top of a vehicle, from acamera angle pointing roughly parallel to the ground and from a cameraposition at or below the legal limit for vehicle heights (e.g. 7-14feet). However, street level images need not be limited to anyparticular height above the ground. For example, a street level imagecan be taken from the top of a building. Panoramic street level imagescan be created by stitching together the plurality of photographs takenfrom the different angles. The panoramic image can be presented as aflat surface or as a texture-mapped three dimensional surface such as,for instance, a cylinder or a sphere.

Each street level image can be stored as a set of pixels associated withcolor and brightness values. For example, if the images are stored inJPEG format, the image can be displayed as a set of pixels in rows andcolumns, with each pixel being associated with a value that defines thecolor and brightness of the image at the pixel's location. Street levelimages can also be stored in the form of videos, such as be displayingMPEG videos captured by analog video camera or displaying, insuccession, time-sequenced photographs that were captured by a digitalstill camera.

Additionally, the street level images need not be limited tophotographic images. For example, street level images may also includethree-dimensional (3D) representations of geographic areas. Forinstance, the street-level images may be a mesh of points that allowdifferent views of an environment to be rendered from the point of viewof a virtual camera. Thus, it should be appreciated that, as usedherein, the term “image” may refer to a photographic image or a 3Drepresentation of a geographic area, such as a photographic image or 3Drepresentation of the interior of a building or the area surrounding astreet.

Similar to map images, street level images stored in the street levelimage database 122 can be indexed and stored based on geographiclocation. Locations can be expressed and requested in various waysincluding, latitude/longitude/altitude positions, street addresses,points on a map (such as when a user clicks or taps on a map), buildingnames, or other data capable of identifying one or more geographiclocations.

In addition to being associated with geographic locations, street levelimages can be associated with orientation data indicating theorientation of the image. For instance, the viewing angle of aparticular street level image can be the angle associated with aparticular view of a virtual camera, and may be defined by both a tiltviewing angle and an azimuthal viewing angle. The tilt viewing angle ofa view depicted in a street level image may be the angle of the view upor down relative to a horizontal plane. The azimuthal viewing angle of astreet level image may be a specific angle around the 360° panoramicimage relative to a reference line.

The viewing angle of an exemplary street level image may be more readilyunderstood with reference to FIG. 2, which illustrates a conceptualrepresentation of an exemplary 360° panoramic image 200 presented as athree-dimensional cylindrical surface about a geographic point ofinterest. However, the panoramic image 200 could also be presented as aflat surface or a spherical surface. The panoramic image 200 includes aplurality of street level images, such as street level image 202, thatprovide various views of the geographic area depicted in the panoramicimage 200. Each of the street level images that make up panoramic image200 may be associated with a viewing angle defined by a tilt viewingangle and/or an azimuthal viewing angle for the particular viewpresented in the street level image 202.

For instance, street level image 202 may be associated with a tiltviewing angle φ defined relative to a horizontal plane 204. Thus, thetilt viewing angle φ may change, for example, by moving the current viewvertically up or down relative to the horizontal plane 204, such as bymoving the current view from being directed at the sidewalk in front ofa building to being directed at the top of the building. Similarly, thestreet level image 202 may also be associated with an azimuthal viewingangle θ defined around the 360° panoramic image 300 relative to areference line 206 extending within a plane (e.g., horizontal plane 204)oriented perpendicular to a central axis 208 of the panoramic image 200.In several embodiments, the reference line 206 may be selected so as toextend parallel to the street along which the panoramic image 200 islocated. For example, as shown in FIG. 4 (the right hand sideillustrating a top view of the cylindrical representation of thepanoramic image 200 shown in FIG. 2), the reference line 206 may extendparallel to the orientation of the street S1 through the central axis208 of the panoramic image 200. As such, the azimuthal viewing angle θmay be changed by rotating the current view relative to the referenceline 206 about the central axis 208.

It should be appreciated that the current viewing angle of a panoramicimage may be adjusted using any suitable input feature and/or inputmeans known in the art. For example, in one embodiment, the currentviewing angle may be adjusted using a click and drag operation, whereina user clicks on or taps (for touch screens) the street-level imagebeing presented and drags the cursor or his/her finger along such image.

Referring back to FIG. 1, the server 110 may also include an entitydatabase 124. The entity database 124 may store information associatedwith entities depicted in street level images and in map imagery. Asused herein, an “entity” refers to any feature, landmark, point ofinterest, or other object associated with a geographic location. Forinstance, an entity can include a business, restaurant, retail outlet,coffee shop, bar, music venue, attraction, museum, theme park, arena,ballpark, stadium, etc. Data associated with the entities can includethe name of the entity and the location of the entity, such aslongitude, latitude, and altitude coordinates associated with theentity, and specific indicia associated with the entity (e.g., names,images, logos and/or other identifying marks).

The server 110 may be configured to receive requests for data, such asdata stored in any of the map database 120, the street level imagedatabase 122, and/or the entity database 124, and respond to thoserequests via the network 140. For instance, the server 110 can encodedata in one or more data files and provide the data files to a client130 over the network 140.

A client 130 can be any computing device that can be used by a user tointeract with the system 100. For instance, a client can be a personalcomputer, smartphone, mobile device, desktop, laptop, PDA, tablet, orother computing device. In short, a client 130 can be any computerdevice or system that can execute instructions to allow a user tointeract with the system 100.

The client 130 can include a processor 132 and a memory 134. Theprocessor 132 can be any suitable processing device. The memory 134 canstore computer-readable instructions that when executed by the processor132 cause the processor 132 to perform operations. The client 130 mayinclude various input/output devices 136 for providing and receivinginformation from a player, such as a touch screen, touch pad, data entrykeys, speakers, and/or a microphone suitable for voice recognition. Theclient 130 may also include a display 135 for presenting information,such as street level images, to the user. The client 130 may furtherinclude a network interface 138 for providing communications over thenetwork 140. The network interface 138 can be any device/medium thatallows the client to interface with the network 140. The client 130 cansend a request for panoramic imagery, such as street level imagery at aselected geographic location, to the server 110 over the network 140 viathe network interface 138. The client 130 may then receive panoramicimagery and data associated with the panoramic imagery at the selectedlocation and present at least a portion of the panoramic imagery througha viewport on any suitable output device set forth in a browserpresented on a display 135.

The network 140 can be any type of communications network, such as alocal area network (e.g. intranet), wide area network (e.g. Internet),or some combination thereof. The network can also include a directconnection between a client 130 and the server 110. In general,communication between the server 110 and a client 130 can be carried viaa network interface using any type of wired and/or wireless connection,using a variety of communication protocols (e.g. TCP/IP, HTTP, SMTP,FTP), encodings or formats (e.g. HTML, XML), and/or protection schemes(e.g. VPN, secure HTTP, SSL).

Referring now to FIG. 3, an exemplary user interface 300 for displayingimmersive panoramic imagery, such as street level imagery 202 through aviewport 302, is illustrated in accordance with aspects of the presentsubject matter. The user interface 300 may be a browser displaypresented on any suitable computing device, such as a mobile device,smartphone, PDA, tablet, laptop, desktop, or other suitable computingdevice. In several embodiments, in addition to the street-level imagery202, the user interface 300 may also be configured to presentinformation associated with the immersive panoramic imagery. Forinstance, as shown in FIG. 3, the user interface 300 may be configuredto display a map 304 superimposed over a portion of the street levelimagery 202 (e.g., over a bottom portion of the street level imagery202). As will be described below, the map 304 may include dataassociated with the area surrounding the geographic location 306 of thepanoramic image currently being viewed by the user (i.e., the actuallocation at which the panoramic image is centered within the geographicarea).

It should be appreciated that, in one embodiment, the user interface 300may be configured to continuously display the map 304 over a portion ofthe street level image 202 being presented to the user. In otherembodiments, the user interface 300 may only be configured to displaythe map 304 when there is a user interaction with the interface 300. Forexample, in one embodiment, the map 304 may be displayed when an inputicon (e.g., a mouse icon) is moved and/or positioned over a portion ofthe street level image 202. In another embodiment, the map 304 may bedisplayed when a specific user input is received, such as when a userclicks or taps on the user interface 300 or when a user performs a clickand drag operation along a portion of the user interface 300.

It should also be appreciated that, in one embodiment, the entire map304 may be opaque or filled-in such that the portion of the street levelimage 202 covered by the map 304 is not visible to the user.Alternatively, the map 304 may be entirely or partially semi-transparentor transparent such that portions of the street level image 202 coveredby the map 304 may be viewed by the user.

As shown in FIG. 3, the map 304 may include travel way data associatedwith the means for traveling around and/or within the area surroundingthe geographic location 306. For example, the travel way data mayinclude street segment data providing an overheard, top-down view of thestreet(s) located within the area surrounding the geographic location306. In one embodiment, the street segment data may include all or aportion of the street S1 on which the panoramic image is centered(hereinafter referred to as the “active street S1”). In addition, thestreet segment data may also include all or a portion(s) of any otherstreet(s) located within close proximity to the geographic location 306.For example, as shown in FIG. 3, the map 304 depicts a portion of theactive street S1 and portions of a second street S2 and a third streetS3 that intersect the active street S1 in the vicinity of the geographiclocation 306. However, it should be appreciated that, if no otherstreets are located within the local vicinity of the panoramic image,the map 304 may simply depict the active street S1.

The map 304 may also display entity data in the form of indicia 308associated with the entities located within the area surrounding thegeographic location 306. For instance, as shown in FIG. 3, indicia 308associated with the entities located along the portions of the streetsshown on the map 304 (e.g., entities A, B and C) may be displayed, witheach indicium 308 being depicted on the map 304 at a location along thestreet(s) relative to the actual geographic location of itscorresponding entity. It should be appreciated that the indicium 308associated with each entity may generally be any suitable word(s),number(s), mark(s), logo(s) and/or image(s) that identify the particularentity and/or distinguish the entity from other entities visuallyrepresented on the map 304. For instance, in one embodiment, theindicium 308 for each entity may include the name of the entity and/oran image or logo that is associated with the entity and/or thatidentifies the services offered by the entity (e.g., by showing a forkand knife for a restaurant or a shopping cart for a grocery store).

In several embodiments, the data displayed on the map 304 may benormalized to allow for a simplified street/entity network to bepresented to the user. For instance, in one embodiment, the streetsegment data displayed on the map 304 may be normalized by depictingeach street as a straight line segment (i.e., removing any curves orbends in the street(s)). Thus, as shown in FIG. 3, the active street S1may be depicted as a straight line segment extending through andcentered about the geographic location 306 of the panoramic image beingcurrently viewed by the user. Additionally, any other street(s)displayed on the map 304 may also be depicted as straight line segments,with the orientation of such street(s) relative to the active street S1being normalized to further simplify the street network presented to theuser. For example, as shown in FIG. 3, streets displayed on the map 304that intersect the active street S1 (e.g., the second and third streetsS2, S3) may be depicted as straight line segments extendingperpendicular to the active street S1. Similarly, streets displayed onthe map 304 that extend lengthwise along either side of the activestreet (not shown) may be depicted as straight line segments extendingparallel to the active street S1. Moreover, the relative distances shownon the map 304 between displayed data (e.g., between street and/orentity locations) may also be normalized. For example, in oneembodiment, all distances shown in the map 304 may be reduced to aconstant size based on the screen size of the client's display 135 orbased on the dimensions of the viewport 302 of the user interface 300.

Additionally, in other embodiments, the travel way data displayed on themap 304 may be associated with any other suitable walkways, pathways orother means for traveling around the area surrounding the geographiclocation 306. For example, when the street level images depict interiornon-street areas, such as the interior of a building, the travel waydata may include floor plans, corridors, hallways and/or any otherindoor passageways. Additionally, such travel way data may benormalized, similar to that described above for the street segment data,to provide a simplified map 304 for viewing by the user. Moreover, whenthe street level images depicts exterior non-street areas, such as apark or other natural area, the travel way data may include trails,walkways and/or any other outdoor pathways and may be normalized tosimplify the map 304 displayed to the user.

Further, in several embodiments, at least a portion of the datadisplayed on the map 304 may be oriented or skewed to match the currentviewing angle associated with the street-level image 202 being presentedwithin the user interface 300. For instance, FIG. 4 illustrates oneexample of how such orienting or skewing of the map data may beimplemented. As shown in FIG. 4, a viewpoint line 310 may be definedthat extends perpendicular to the reference line 206 through the centralaxis 208 of the panoramic image 200 and that generally represents theviewpoint from the perspective of a person facing outwardly at a 90°angle from the active street S1 at the geographic location 306. In suchan embodiment, the viewpoint line 310 may generally serve as a referencefor skewing the map data in one direction or the other. For instance,when the current view of the street level image 202 is directedperpendicular to the reference line 206 and, thus, extends along theviewpoint line 310 (indicated by the solid arrow 312), the orientationof the active street S1 displayed on the map 304 may be horizontal (asshown by the solid lines on the left side of FIG. 4). However, when thecurrent view of the street level image 202 is directed at an angledefined between the viewpoint line 310 and the reference line 206, theorientation of the data displayed on the map 304 may be appropriatelyangled or skewed to indicate the difference in the current view versusthe perpendicular view represented by the viewpoint line 310. Forexample, it may be assumed for purposes of explanation that theazimuthal viewing angle θ associated with a given street level image 202is measured between 0 and 180 degrees along each side of the referenceline 206 (i.e., along a first side 314 and a second side 316 of theactive street S1). Additionally, it may be assumed that the azimuthalviewing angle θ increases in the counter-clockwise direction so that theazimuthal viewing angle θ at the three o'clock position shown in FIG. 4is equal to 0 degrees on the first side 314 of the active street S1 and180 degrees on the second side 316 of the active street S1 and theazimuthal viewing angle θ at the six o'clock position shown in FIG. 4 isequal to 180 degrees on the first side 314 of the active street S1 and 0degrees on the second side 316 of the active street S1.

As shown in FIG. 4, when the current azimuthal viewing angle θ is equalto an angle ranging between 0° and 90° such that the current view of thestreet level image 202 (indicated by the dashed arrow 318) is rotatedclockwise away from the viewpoint line 310 along the first side 314 ofthe active street S1, the data displayed on the map 304 (indicated bydashed lines 320) may be rotated counter-clockwise about the geographiclocation 306 of the panoramic image 200 to match the orientation of thecurrent view. Similarly, when the current azimuthal viewing angle θ isequal to angle ranging between 90° and 180° such that the current viewof the street level image 202 (indicated by the dashed arrow 322) isrotated counter-clockwise away from the viewpoint line 310 along thefirst side 314 of the active street S1, the data displayed on the map304 (indicated by dashed lines 324) may be rotated clockwise about thegeographic location 306 to match the orientation of the current view. Insuch an embodiment, a skew angle 326 of the active street S1 relative tohorizontal may be defined as a function of the rotational offset betweenthe current azimuthal viewing angle θ and the viewpoint line 310 (i.e.,offset angle 328). Thus, as the current view of the street level image202 is rotated away from the viewpoint line 310, the angle 326 at whichthe active street S1 is skewed relative to horizontal may be increased.

It should be appreciated that any suitable correlation may be definedbetween the skew angle 326 and the offset angle 328. However, in severalembodiments, it may be desirable for the variation in the skew angle 326to be relatively small in comparison to the variation in the offsetangle 328 to ensure that the map data may be appropriately skewedwithout requiring a relatively large map 340 to be superimposed over thestreet level image 202. For example, in particular embodiment, for every10° the azimuthal viewing angle θ is rotationally offset from theviewpoint line 310 along either side 314, 316 of the active street S1,the street S1 may be skewed 1° clockwise or counter-clockwise fromhorizontal.

Referring now to FIGS. 5-8, several examples of the disclosed userinterface 300 including differing views of street level images 202 areillustrated in accordance with aspects of the present subject matter. Asshown in FIG. 5, the current view of the street level image 202(indicated by arrow 330) is oriented generally perpendicular to thedirection of the active street S1 (i.e., in a direction parallel to theviewpoint line 310 alone the first side 314 of the active street S1).Thus, as indicated above, the active street S1 may be oriented on themap 304 generally horizontally. However, as the current view of thestreet level image 202 is rotated clockwise or counter-clockwise fromthe view shown in FIG. 5, the data displayed on the map 304 may berotated in the opposite direction to match the orientation of thecurrent view. For example, as shown in FIG. 6, the current view of thestreet level image 202 (indicted by arrow 330) has been rotatedclockwise relative to the view shown in FIG. 5 (e.g., in the directionof the corner of the intersection of the active street S1 and the thirdstreet S3). In such an embodiment, the data displayed on the map 304 maybe rotated counter-clockwise about the geographic location 306 of thepanoramic image 200 so that the right side of the active street S1 ispositioned above horizontal, thereby indicating that a person facingoutwardly along the viewpoint line 310 towards the first side 314 of thestreet S1 would be required to turn right to view the geographic areafrom the same perspective shown in the street level image 202.Alternatively, as shown in FIG. 7, the current view of the street levelimage 202 has been rotated counter-clockwise relative to the view shownin FIG. 5 (e.g., in the direction of the corner of the intersection ofthe active street S1 and the second street S2). In such an embodiment,the data displayed on the map 304 may be rotated clockwise so that theleft side of the active street S1 is positioned above horizontal,thereby indicating that a person facing outwardly along the viewpointline 310 towards the first side 314 of the street S1 would be requiredto turn left to view the geographic area from the same perspective shownin the street-level image 202.

Additionally, as shown in FIG. 8, the data displayed on the map 304 maybe similarly angled or skewed when the current view of the street levelimage 202 (indicated by arrow 330) is rotated across the reference line206 to the second side 316 of the active street S1. However, unlike theexamples shown in FIGS. 5-7, the orientation of the map data may bereferenced from the portion of the viewpoint line 310 extending alongthe second side 316 of the active street S1 (i.e., from the perspectiveof a person facing outwardly at a 90 degree angle from the active streetS1 towards the second side 316 of the street S1, as shown by arrow 332)Thus, as shown in FIG. 8, since the current view of the street levelimage 202 is oriented clockwise relative to the portion of the viewpointline 310, the data displayed on the map 304 may be rotatedcounter-clockwise so that the right side of the active street S1 ispositioned above horizontal, thereby indicating a person facingoutwardly along the viewpoint line 310 towards the second side 316 ofthe street S1 (i.e., in the direction of arrow 332) would be required toturn right to view the geographic area from the same perspective shownin the street-level image 202. Additionally, it should be appreciatedthat the data displayed on the map 304 may be flipped, as compared tohow such data is displayed in FIGS. 5-7, to indicate that the currentview of the street level image 202 is directed along the second side 316of the active street S1. For example, comparing the positioning of themap data shown in FIG. 8 to that shown in FIG. 7, the data has beenflipped 180 degrees about both an axis extending along the length of theactive street S1 (i.e., so that the data positioned on the second side316 of the street S1, such as Entity B, is displayed at the top of themap 304) and an axis extending perpendicular to the active street S1 atthe geographic location 306 of the panoramic image 200 (e.g., so thatthe intersection of the active street S1 and the second street S2 ispositioned on the right side of the map 304).

Moreover, in several embodiments, a user may be able to interact withthe map 304 as a means for navigating between different panoramic images200. Specifically, in one embodiment, by providing a user inputselecting a specific location on the map 304 (e.g., by clicking on ortouching the map 304 at a specific location), a street-level image 202of the panoramic image 200 positioned at or closest to the geographiclocation corresponding to the selected location may be displayed on theuser interface 300. For example, assuming that a user viewing thestreet-level image 202 shown in FIG. 7 desires to get a closer look atEntity A, the user may click on the indicium 308 displayed on the map304 associated with Entity A. Thereafter, the user interface 300 maydisplay a street-level image 202 forming part of the panoramic image 200located adjacent to Entity A. For example, as shown in FIG. 9, in oneembodiment, the user interface 300 may be configured to display astreet-level image 202 of the panoramic image 202 located directly infront of Entity A on the street along which the entity is located (e.g.,the active street Si). In such an embodiment, the street-level image 202may, for instance, be oriented perpendicular to the street such that thecurrent view of the street-level image (indicated by arrow 330) isfacing directly towards the selected entity, thereby allowing the userto view at least a portion of the entity.

In another embodiment, the map 304 may be configured such that a usermay navigate between panoramic images 200 by performing a click and dragoperation along r portion of the map 304. For instance, the user mayclick on or touch (for touch screens) the map a304 and drag the cursoror his/her finger along the map 304 to slide between panoramic images200 positioned at differing geographic locations. Such a slidingnavigational technique may generally allow for a user to quickly andefficient navigate between spaced apart panoramic images. For example,instead of selecting the indicium associated with Entity A, the user maybe able to click on the indicium and drag it to the center of the map304, thereby allowing the user to quickly navigate to the view shown inFIG. 9.

It should be appreciated that, when navigating between panoramic images200, the data displayed on the map 304 may change to show the streetsegment data (or other travel way data) and/or entity data locatedwithin the geographic area surrounding the new panoramic image. Forexample, as shown in FIG. 9, by navigating to the panoramic image 200located in front of Entity A, the map 305 may only display the streetsegment data (e.g., active street S1 and a fourth street S4) and/or theentity data (e.g., Entity A, E and F) located within the geographic areasurrounding such panoramic image 200.

While the present subject matter has been described in detail withrespect to specific exemplary embodiments and methods thereof, it willbe appreciated that those skilled in the art, upon attaining anunderstanding of the foregoing may readily produce alterations to,variations of, and equivalents to such embodiments. Accordingly, thescope of the present disclosure is by way of example rather than by wayof limitation, and the subject disclosure does not preclude inclusion ofsuch modifications, variations and/or additions to the present subjectmatter as would be readily apparent to one of ordinary skill in the art.

1-20. (canceled)
 21. A computer-implemented method, comprising:presenting, with a computing device, a camera-captured image for displayon a user interface of a client device, the camera-captured imagedepicting a location within a geographic area, the geographic areaincluding at least one entity; receiving, with the computing device,data indicative of a first user interaction with the user interface ofthe client device; in response to the first user interaction,presenting, with the computing device, a map view for display on theuser interface; superimposing, with the computing device, indiciaassociated with the at least one entity over at least a portion of themap view; receiving, with the computing device, data indicative of asecond user interaction with the indicia superimposed over the map view;and in response to the second user interaction, accessing, with thecomputing device, data associated with the at least one entity fordisplay on the user interface of the client device.
 22. The method ofclaim 21, wherein the camera-captured image depicts a street level viewof the geographic area.
 23. The method of claim 22, whereinsuperimposing indicia associated with the at least one entity over atleast a portion of the map view comprises superimposing indiciaassociated with the at least one entity located within a given areasurrounding a current location of the client device.
 24. The method ofclaim 21, wherein presenting the map view for display on the userinterface comprises presenting a map for display on the user interface,the map covering a portion of the camera-captured image displayed on theuser interface.
 25. The method of claim 24, wherein the map is opaque orfilled-in such that the portion of the camera-captured image covered bythe map is not visible to a user of the client device.
 26. The method ofclaim 21, wherein receiving data indicative of a first user interactionwith the user interface of the client device comprises receiving dataindicative of a touch input on the user interface, the map view beingpresented in response to the touch input.
 27. The method of claim 21,wherein the indicia comprises at least one of a name, image, logoassociated with the at least one entity or a logo that identifiesservices offered by the at least one entity.
 28. The method of claim 21,wherein the at least one entity comprises at least one of a business ora restaurant.
 29. A system for displaying geographic imagery, the systemcomprising: one or more computing devices including one or moreprocessors and associated memory, the memory storing instructions that,when executed by the one or more processors, configure the one or morecomputing devices to: present a camera-captured image for display on auser interface of a client device, the camera-captured image depicting alocation within a geographic area, the geographic area including atleast one entity; receive data indicative of a first user interactionwith the user interface of the client device; in response to the firstuser interaction, present a map view for display on the user interface;superimpose indicia associated with the at least one entity over atleast a portion of the map view; receive data indicative of a seconduser interaction with the indicia superimposed over the map view; and inresponse to the second user interaction, access data associated with theat least one entity for display on the user interface of the clientdevice.
 30. The system of claim 29, wherein the camera-captured imagedepicts a street level view of the geographic area.
 31. The system ofclaim 30, wherein the one or more computing devices are configured tosuperimpose indicia associated with the at least one entity locatedwithin a given area surrounding a current location of the client device.32. The system of claim 29, wherein the map view presented for displayon the user interface comprises a map, the map covering a portion of thecamera-captured image displayed on the user interface.
 33. The system ofclaim 32, wherein the map is opaque or filled-in such that the portionof the camera-captured image covered by the map is not visible to a userof the client device.
 34. The system of claim 29, wherein the first userinteraction corresponds to a touch input on the user interface, the oneor more computing devices being configured to present the map view inresponse to the touch input.
 35. The system of claim 29, wherein theindicia comprises at least one of a name, image, logo associated withthe at least one entity or a logo that identifies services offered bythe at least one entity.
 36. The system of claim 29, wherein the atleast one entity comprises at least one of a business or a restaurant.37. A tangible, non-transitory computer-readable medium storingcomputer-executable instructions that, when executed by one or moreprocessors, cause the one or more processors to perform operations,comprising: presenting a camera-captured image for display on a userinterface of a client device, the camera-captured image depicting alocation within a geographic area, the geographic area including atleast one entity; receiving data indicative of a first user interactionwith the user interface of the client device; in response to the firstuser interaction, presenting a map view for display on the userinterface; superimposing indicia associated with the at least one entityover at least a portion of the map view; receiving data indicative of asecond user interaction with the indicia superimposed over the map view;and in response to the second user interaction, accessing dataassociated with the at least one entity for display on the userinterface of the client device.
 38. The computer-readable medium of clam37, wherein the camera-captured image depicts a street level view of thegeographic area.
 39. The computer-readable medium of clam 37, whereinpresenting the map view for display on the user interface comprisespresenting a map for display on the user interface, the map covering aportion of the camera-captured image displayed on the user interface.40. The computer-readable medium of clam 39, wherein the map is opaqueor filled-in such that the portion of the camera-captured image coveredby the map is not visible to a user of the client device.